Please help i'm in gradient hell :(

Originally posted by: abeall
1) Replicating a simple 2 point radial gradient is a snap in Flash. I'm not
sure what you mean by 50%, but you can have more than two flags in Flash, you
can move the flags anywhere. If you are talking about interpolation of
gradients(ease-in and ease-out) Flash does not support this.

3) Flash only supports: Vectors & text, and imported bitmaps. Therefor, when
you attempt to import something that Flash can not not support as vectors, it
will turn it to a bitmap to preserve what it looks like. Flash gradients are
very simple(because Flash is designed to be streamlined for the web) so if you
are using a gradient with interpolation it will not import as a vector.

When you import a vector gradient, try selecting "always keep paths editable."
If the gradient comes in solid, you know the gradient was too complex to be
replicated exactly in Flash, and you will have to redo it in Flash.

hth

Thanks for the info I have always wondered why flash renders gradient content
in such a strange fashion I have been experimenting with the fill transform
tool, there isn't to my knowledge a way of scaling it in relation to the object
fill that is being manipulatd?

This is what I was refering to inside of illustrator with the "locations"
option within the gradient fill option inside on of the floating tabs.

Would I be correct in thinking that if I was to create the gradient effects
inside of freehand mx and not illustrator cs all of the gradients wouldn't
sufffer from the same problems???

thanks for the help

feeling a bit less stressed now

stefan
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

> This is what I was refering to inside of illustrator with the "locations"
option within the gradient fill option inside on of the > > floating tabs.
Unfortunetly, I still am unsure what you mean. You get a full flag slider in
Flash as well, the first and last Flags do not need to be at the beginning or
end of the 'ramp' either. The fill transform allows you to define gradient
origin(center point) and allows you to stretch, proportional scale, and rotate
about this point

> Would I be correct in thinking that if I was to create the gradient effects
inside of freehand mx and not illustrator cs all of the > gradients wouldn't
sufffer from the same problems???
Yup. I have zero problems, even with complex vector effects(drop shadow,
smudge, ect.). I work seemlessly between Flash and FH alot(literally just
copy/paste between the two). FW works great too.

GL
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

Sorry I wasn't very clear in defining myself with the illustrator gradient
palette but I guess seeing this isn't an adobe site its understandable

abeall from what your saying freehand would be a good way to go in over
comming the problems I am experiencing with complex gradients created within
illustrator.

I am wondering does freehand experience the same problems in rendering
gradients like flash does freehand run off the same vector engine or what ever
its called as flash???

thanks for your help you have been most insightful unlike my explanations of
"other" vector packages

thanks again

stefan
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

sorry I didn't know how to edit the last message I wrote.

in the last message what I was asking in a round about way is the engine or
api the same both in freehand and flash?
so importing the same illustrator files into freehand will produce the same
effect of rastering the gradients.
Sorry if this is now going off topic I will mark it as answered in another
reply or two.

thanks again

stefan
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

It's still unclear where the problem is. Flash can make radial and linear
gradients just about as well as Illustrator can - in fact better, as it can
fade to transparencies. There can be as many different colors in a gradient as
you can possibly cram into the gradient editor. You can use the gradient fill
tool to expand, tilt, and rotate the gradient, IMO more easily than
Illustrator. Anyway, Flash can fully understand any radial or linear gradient
that you can possibly make in Illustrator.

But, Flash will not do gradient blends or gradient meshes. Those will get
bitmapped. Flash also does not understand Illustrator 'effects' - those also
will get bitmapped. Brushes - nope. In general, if you can downsave to
Illustrator version 7, everything that is left will transfer to Flash without
technical problems. Speaking of which, I was disappointed to see in Illustrator
CS that the downsave option has been hidden somewhere or removed - does anyone
know what happened to that?
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

Originally posted by: Pete Hughes
But, Flash will not do gradient blends or gradient meshes. Those will get
bitmapped. Flash also does not understand Illustrator 'effects' - those also
will get bitmapped. Brushes - nope. In general, if you can downsave to
Illustrator version 7, everything that is left will transfer to Flash without
technical problems. Speaking of which, I was disappointed to see in Illustrator
CS that the downsave option has been hidden somewhere or removed - does anyone
know what happened to that?

Thanks for th information on your advice I re-installed a copy of illustrator
10 to see if importing a version 7 file into flash would sort out the problems.
unfortunity it is still experiencing the same problems as any other version of
illustrator simple gradients are being converted to bitmap, the simple
gradients aren't to crazy and all the illustrations aren't using any strange
effects or filters.

I do agree that flash produces much more advanced gradients but most designers
don't start there designs here I wish flash was more akin to director which I
thought I would never say

stefan
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

Flash uses a very unique API, so it's not the same as FH. I don't have AI so I
can't do any test myself, but the problem is simply one program understanding
another programs file format. And since they are made by different(rival)
companies, it's not likely communication between the two will ever be very
keen. I would suggest getting the trial of both FH and FW and see what you can
do. I would also think that saving to a 'simpler' AI version might yield some
good results.

On a side note, I actually use AI files all the time, never have any problems
beyond mild color mutations. I even export my FH files as AI6 sometimes, this
way it can be imported to many programs.
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :( 

Got a copy of freehand and have found a solution to a few of the problems I was
experiencing abeall your advice about exporting a lower version of ai files is
correct.

The method I have isn't fool proof but the best I can get...

The orginal file inside of illustrator, I export it as a legacy illustrator
eps file. then once named export it using version 8 illustrator file and check
all the radial buttons.

Once out of illustrator import into freehand so the damaged elements mostly
gradients and some styles are repaired once there exported as a swf file import
into flash.

Bingo bango your work is done

thanks for all you help on this one guys its a small thing in the process but
it was a real pain...

stefan
 >> Stay informed about: Please help i'm in gradient hell :(